Aston Villa: We suffered because of high expectations reveals Milner

May 6 2009 by Bill Howell, Birmingham Mail

JAMES Milner believes Villa suffered from a rise in expectation levels among supporters this season.

But he has challenged his team-mates to make sure they pass last season’s 60-point haul as a measure of how they have progressed.

Milner insists there was never any negativity within the dressing room and says players did not hide despite the 12-game winless run.

Villa went eight points clear of Arsenal when they won at Blackburn in February, only for Arsene Wenger’s side to go on a 21-game unbeaten run which produced a 21-point swing before Villa ended a horrid run of form with victory over Hull City on Monday night.

“When you start the season as well as we did expectations rise,” said the £12million winger.

“Maybe if we had started really badly and were in the relegation zone and had finished the last two-thirds of the season the way we started, it would have been ‘what a great season’.

“It’s one of those things and the way people look at things.

“We are still on for fifth place. It is a great achievement. It has been a successful season as long as we finish in fifth place.

“You learn from seasons like this and hopefully next season we can take that on board and become a better side and go one better.

“We just have to make sure we finish strongly.”